50 Things You Might Not Have Remembered for Your Dorm Room

We are going to assume you are set with things like sheets, towels, a laptop, and hangers but here are a few others you might want to consider. The caveat: most items can be delivered with free two-day shipping. 

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1. Unbreakable cups, bowls, and plates for take-out or snacks

2. Snacks

3. A college-oriented planner for learning time management 

4. An electric tea kettle, if it is allowed, think hot chocolate, soup, and tea. 

5. Diffuser or wallflower, no one needs to smell a dorm room

6. A stocked medicine box

7. Brita water pitcher
8. A series of legal documents you should have in place after your student turns 18 

9. A strong fan, unless they have A/C

10. A zip-up mattress pad or protector, yep those mattresses are not nice 

11. A long charging cord, the outlets can be anywhere 

12. A door stop, open doors help make new friends 

13. A lap desk if your teen likes to work sitting on their bed

14. A big backrest pillow, see above

15. Flip flops, showers can be even worse than the mattresses 

16. Desk lamp, if it isn’t provided 

17. A letter from you to leave at drop off

18. Laundry basket or bag that travels well to the machines  

19. Blackout curtains if your teen struggles to sleep with sunlight 

20. External battery for phones

21. Dorm bed shelf 

22. Mattress topper, our teens told us this was the best thing we bought them for college after their laptop

23. Bathmat

24. Rug if the climate is cold

25. Air fryer, if allowed 

26. Over Door Organizer Hooks for hanging wet towels

27. IKEA bags, IKEA bags, IKEA bags

28. Clothes steamer

29. Command strips or hooks for hanging
30. Water bottle

31. Coffee maker, Keurig makes a tiny one

32. Laundry pods

33. Extra toiletries

34. Backpack

35. Microwave

36. Headboard 

37. Safe, if your child uses medications

38. Extra phone charger 

39. T-shirt quilt, lots of teens like these

40. Posters or wall hangings

41. Surge protector

42. Raincoat or umbrella

43. Lint roller 

44. Elevated cart to lift a refrigerator off the filthy floor and provide storage

45. Underbed storage

46. A wipe-erase board

47. Weighted blanket, if your teen prefers one

48. Ottoman for storage, friends to sit on, and a step stool onto a lofted bed

49. Small flashlight, if there is a power outage you don’t want them using their phone

50. Ear plugs, white noise, something to make sleeping easier

More Great Reading:

50 Things to Do Before You Send Your Teen to College